Barrett Brown is an American activist, author, and freelance writer/journalist. His work has appeared in The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Huffington Post, Businessweek, and other outlets. He has appeared as a guest on MSNBC, Fox News and Russia Today.

On September 12, 2012 Barrett Brown was raided and arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation while he was participating in a Tinychat session. He was subsequently denied bail and detained without charge and adequate medical treatment for over two weeks while in the custody of US Marshals.

Read a full description at freebarrettbrown.org

In the first week of October 2012, Barrett was indicted on three counts related to alleged activities or postings on websites such as Twitter and YouTube, in which he postured for the return of property which was taken from him in March, and expressed frustration at the targeted campaign against him and a member of his family. The Department of Justice issued a press release on October 4th.

On December 4, 2012 Barrett was indicted by a federal grand jury on twelve additional counts related to data from a security breach at the company Stratfor. See more on this at Department of Justice 7th Dec 2012 Press Release.

Despite his lack of direct involvement in the operation and stated opposition to this aspect, Barrett faced these charges for the alleged mere act of pasting a hyperlink into an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channel. On January 23rd, 2013 he was indicted a third time on two more counts, relating to the March 2012 FBI raid(s) on his apartment and his mother’s house.

Barrett pleaded not guilty in all three cases. In January 2015 he was sentenced to 63 months which he is currently serving, and ordered to pay restitution.

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